Friday Papers: HSBC picks John Flint as CEO

13 Oct, 2017

Top stories

Financial Times: HSBC has stuck with its tradition of promoting from within its top ranks by naming John Flint, head of the bank’s retail and wealth management arm, as its next chief executive, a clear sign new chairman Mark Tucker will opt for continuity.

The Times: Hundreds of manufacturers including the carmakers General Motors, Toyota and Nissan were struggling to cope with the effects of an escalating quality scandal at Kobe Steel.

The Daily Telegraph: Royal Mail has won a High Court injunction preventing next week’s planned 48-hour strike by postal workers.

Financial Times: Royal Dutch Shell, one of the world’s largest producers of fossil fuels, has agreed to buy NewMotion, one of Europe’s biggest electric vehicle charging companies, marking a significant push into a market that threatens to one day upend the oil industry.

Financial Times: Whitehall is planning to hire another 2,000 staff to deal specifically with Brexit in a sign of how its resources are being diverted towards the challenges of leaving the EU.

Financial Times: JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup , two of Wall Street’s largest banks, presented mixed third-quarter results on Thursday, in the latest sign that Donald Trump’s election has yet to produce the expected boost to big finance that has driven a historic share price rally in the sector.

Business and economics

Financial Times: EU leaders will refuse to open talks with the UK on post-Brexit transition at next week’s summit because of the lack of progress on a divorce settlement, dealing a blow to British efforts to break a deadlock in negotiations.

The Guardian: Christine Lagarde, the managing director of the International Monetary Fund , has said it is unimaginable that Britain would leave the EU without a deal in March 2019, as she called for faster progress in the slow-moving Brexit talks.

Daily Mail: Embattled lingerie chain Agent Provocateur is set to leave £28 million in unpaid debts; the chain, which went into administration earlier this year, will pay unsecured creditors – many thought to be small suppliers – just 4p for every pound that they are owed.

Daily Mail: Media giant Sky saw its new customer sign-ups rise by 51% in its first quarter compared to a year ago, with 160,000 people added to its books.

The Daily Telegraph: N Brown recorded a 5.6% increase in overall sales to £453.3 million for the 26 weeks to 2 September, partly driven by a surge in sales of its plus-sized Simply Be range.

The Daily Telegraph: WH Smith generated higher sales from its travel shops than its high street stores for the first time in its 225-year history on the back of a surge in tourists splurging on Union Jack souvenirs and international growth.

The Daily Telegraph: Banks are tightening lending standards and making it harder for borrowers to get new credit cards or consumer loans, obeying instructions from the Bank of England to rein in what could become a dangerous household debt boom.

Financial Times: BMW is in talks to create a Chinese joint venture in a bid to expand the Mini brand into the world’s biggest and fastest growing car market.

The Daily Telegraph: Christen Ager-Hanssen, a Norwegian businessman whose investment firm Custos has a 12.6% stake in the media group, is set to write to Johnston Press’s board later this week to request an extraordinary general meeting in a bid to oust its chairman.

Financial Times: The City of London has been put on notice by the EU’s top banking watchdog that it cannot retain access to the single market after Brexit by using mere shell companies based in the bloc.

The Times: Goals Soccer Centres has been forced to launch a search for a new chief executive following the surprise resignation of Mark Jones after less than 16 months in the role.

Financial Times: Sky and its chairman James Murdoch suffered a rebuke from independent shareholders at the broadcaster’s annual meeting with a strong protest vote over pay at the company.

Share tips, comment and bids

Daily Mail: Lloyds has swooped on a £15 billion workplace pension business owned by Zurich UK as it fights for a greater share of retirement industry business.

The Times: Saudi Aramco’s minority listing in London has come under fresh fire from a good governance specialist International Corporate Governance Network that speaks for some of the most influential investment funds on the stock market.

The Times: Contour Global, the American group that operates renewable and thermal energy generators, is set to list on the London Stock Exchange early next month, aiming to raise $400 million from issuing new shares.

Financial Times: India’s Tata conglomerate has agreed to offload its ailing consumer telecoms business to market leader Bharti Airtel in the latest round of consolidation triggered by the arrival of cut-price mobile operator Reliance Jio.

The Times: Just Eat’s £240 million acquisition of Hungryhouse has been provisionally cleared by the Competition and Markets Authority after an investigation concluded that it was unlikely to compromise the takeaway delivery market.

Financial Times: Lufthansa will buy more than half of Air Berlin, the lossmaking airline that filed for insolvency in August after losing the support of its biggest shareholder Etihad Airways.

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